Radial Artery in Wrist Shows Less Complications for Artery Procedures, Femoral Procedure is More Risky

A new study shows that more doctors are starting to unclog heart arteries through wrists.

The study notes that when entering the radial artery in the wrist, fewer bleeding complications and health risks are involved than with the general procedure of using the femoral artery in the groin. The study notes that the artery-opening procedure is called percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary angioplasty.

"Traditionally, femoral access has been taught and used in the United States for PCI, whereas the radial approach is frequently used in Europe," study lead author Dr. Dmitriy Feldman, an assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York Presbyterian Hospital department of medicine, said in a journal news release.

Feldman and colleagues studied data on almost 3 million artery-opening procedures and found that bleeding complications occurred in about 3 percent of the radial artery procedures, compared to about 6 percent of the femoral artery ones.

The researchers note this newer option completed through the wrist could improve the safety of previous operations.

The researchers analyzed artery-opening procedures conducted at nearly 1,400 U.S. centers from 2007 to 2012. At the end of the data, results showed that nearly one of every six procedures were performed through the wrist's radial artery.

As femoral procedures can cause bleeding complications, researchers point out that this can be a positive adjustment to surgical procedures involving artery-opening.

The findings for the study are published in the journal Circulation.